Trends in the training and employment of geoscientists in Australia from 1967 to 1978

There are now 14 universities and 8 colleges of advanced education in Australia with geology or earth science departments, which comprised 278 professional staff, 2020 undergraduates, and 556 graduate students in 1978. Academic staff, engaged in a wide range of research, represent less than 10 percent of the total number of Australian geoscientists. Almost all non‐academic employers (98 percent of the sample) presently accept a graduate with a B.Sc. (Hons) degree, while 85 percent accept a B.Sc pass degree. About 65 percent of non‐academic geologists work for industry, and the remainder are employed by government surveys and research organisations. Mining and mineral exploration employ 76 percent of the geologists in industry, followed by petroleum exploration with 11 percent. Geologists make up 83 percent of geoscientists in non‐academic employment, the remainder being geophysicists 15 percent and geochemists 2 percent. Information on vacancies available in early 1979 suggests that all the recent graduates would be absorbed by government and industry, and pointed to a resurgence in demand for qualified geoscientists. There has been striking growth in the number of consulting/contracting geological firms, with 65 firms employing 242 geoscientists replying to the 1978 census.